Ross crashes but refuses to give in

McGuire shows resolve to finish both races in Leicestershire

Young Cambusnethan racer Ross Maguire was left cursing some rotten luck at round two of the National Mini Moto Road Racing Championship.

The event, held at the Stretton Circuit in Leicester, was the latest in the series that brings together the best young motor racing talent from across the country.

Having never visited the track before, Ross managed to squeeze in a practice session the evening prior to the competitive racing, and that helped him to learn the track layout and get his bike set up the way he wanted for the official meeting the next morning.

The qualifying session went well for Ross as he managed a fourth-place finish out of the 20 entered riders, and that gave him a good starting spot on the second row for both the races.

He started that extremely well, moving up into third place before the first corner, before being pegged back by the end of the first lap.

He stayed well in touch with the racers in third and second until just two laps from the end when pushing hard to get past the rider in third, he crashed out after exiting a hairpin corner.

Losing a lot of time due to having to restart his bike, Ross ended the race in an unfortunate eighth position.

In race two, hoping to get a better result than he had done in his first outing, Ross got off to yet another great start, getting himself up into third position again before the first corner.

But once again, a crash handed the youngster a massive setback.

Coming out of a left-hand hairpin, he collided with another rider, and found himself out of the race.

By the time he managed to get going again, the entire field had passed him by and he was in last place, a whole half-lap behind anyone else.

However, he rallied to catch up with the field and fought his way admirably up to a 10th-place finish.

While the final placings were disappointing for Ross, he showed great character and desire to not only finish both races, but also catch a number of racers who had passed him by.

His next race meeting is round three of the British Champion- ship, and that will take place this Saturday (April 19) on Teeside.

He then heads north on Sunday for round one of the Scottish mini-moto Championships in Kirkcaldy, Fife.